Proverbs 8; Proverbs 9; 2 Corinthians 3

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Proverbs 8

1 Doesn't Wisdom call out? Doesn't Understanding make her voice heard?
2 At the heights overlooking the road, at the crossroads, she takes her stand.
3 Beside the gates at the entry to the city, at the main entrance, she cries out:
4 "People, I call out to you; my cry is to mankind.
5 Learn to be shrewd, you who are inexperienced; develop common sense, you who are foolish.
6 Listen, for I speak of noble things, and what my lips say is right.
7 For my mouth tells the truth, and wickedness is detestable to my lips.
8 All the words of my mouth are righteous; none of them are deceptive or perverse.
9 All of them are clear to the perceptive, and right to those who discover knowledge.
10 Accept my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than pure gold.
11 For wisdom is better than precious stones, and nothing desirable can compare with it.
12 I, Wisdom, share a home with shrewdness and have knowledge and discretion.
13 To fear the Lord is to hate evil. I hate arrogant pride, evil conduct, and perverse speech.
14 I possess good advice and competence; I have understanding and strength.
15 It is by me that kings reign and rulers enact just law;
16 by me, princes lead, as do nobles [and] all righteous judges.
17 I love those who love me, and those who search for me find me.
18 With me are riches and honor, lasting wealth and righteousness.
19 My fruit is better than solid gold, and my harvest than pure silver.
20 I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice,
21 giving wealth as an inheritance to those who love me, and filling their treasuries.
22 The Lord made me at the beginning of His creation, before His works of long ago.
23 I was formed before ancient times, from the beginning, before the earth began.
24 I was brought forth when there were no watery depths and no springs filled with water.
25 I was brought forth before the mountains and hills were established,
26 before He made the land, the fields, or the first soil on earth.
27 I was there when He established the heavens, when He laid out the horizon on the surface of the ocean,
28 when He placed the skies above, when the fountains of the ocean gushed forth,
29 when He set a limit for the sea so that the waters would not violate His command, when He laid out the foundations of the earth.
30 I was a skilled craftsman beside Him. I was His delight every day, always rejoicing before Him.
31 I was rejoicing in His inhabited world, delighting in the human race.
32 And now, [my] sons, listen to me; those who keep my ways are happy.
33 Listen to instruction and be wise; don't ignore it.
34 Anyone who listens to me is happy, watching at my doors every day, waiting by the posts of my doorway.
35 For the one who finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord,
36 but the one who sins against me harms himself; all who hate me love death."
Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

Proverbs 9

1 Wisdom has built her house; she has carved out her seven pillars.
2 She has prepared her meat; she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table.
3 She has sent out her servants; she calls out from the highest points of the city:
4 "Whoever is inexperienced, enter here!" To the one who lacks sense, she says,
5 "Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine I have mixed.
6 Leave inexperience behind, and you will live; pursue the way of understanding.
7 The one who corrects a mocker will bring dishonor on himself; the one who rebukes a wicked man will get hurt.
8 Don't rebuke a mocker, or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.
9 Instruct a wise man, and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man, and he will learn more.
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
11 For by Wisdom your days will be many, and years will be added to your life.
12 If you are wise, you are wise for your own benefit; if you mock, you alone will bear [the consequences]."
13 The woman Folly is rowdy; she is gullible and knows nothing.
14 She sits by the doorway of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city,
15 calling to those who pass by, who go straight ahead on their paths:
16 "Whoever is inexperienced, enter here!" To the one who lacks sense, she says,
17 "Stolen water is sweet, and bread [eaten] secretly is tasty!"
18 But he doesn't know that the departed spirits are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

2 Corinthians 3

1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or like some, do we need letters of recommendation to you or from you?
2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, recognized and read by everyone,
3 since it is plain that you are Christ's letter, produced by us, not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God; not on stone tablets but on tablets that are hearts of flesh.
4 We have this kind of confidence toward God through Christ:
5 not that we are competent in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our competence is from God.
6 He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit produces life.
7 Now if the ministry of death, chiseled in letters on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel were not able to look directly at Moses' face because of the glory from his face-a fading [glory]-
8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?
9 For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness overflows with even more glory.
10 In fact, what had been glorious is not glorious in this case because of the glory that surpasses it.
11 For if what was fading away was glorious, what endures will be even more glorious.
12 Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness-
13 not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel could not look at the end of what was fading away.
14 But their minds were closed. For to this day, at the reading of the old covenant, the same veil remains; it is not lifted, because it is set aside [only] in Christ.
15 However, to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts,
16 but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
18 We all, with unveiled faces, are reflecting the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.